Planets Farthest from Our Sun
The next four planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. These planets are huge. Unlike the planets close to the sun, these planets are not mainly composed of rock or other solid matter. Their atmospheres are mostly made of gases. So, many scientists call these planets “gas giants.”
Gas giants have many moons and rings. Their rings are made of dust and rocks. Some gas giants have rings that are hard to see, while others, such as Saturn, have rings that are easy to see from Earth.
Although the gas giants are alike in many ways, each planet is also different. Each gas giant has different features. Some of the gas giants have storms on their surface. For example, the orange-red oval on Jupiter is a storm. This storm has lasted more than 300 years.
Gas giants can also move through space in different ways. For example, Uranus spins differently than other planets. It spins on its side, moving like a rolling ball instead of a spinning top.
• Rings They are surrounded by rings.
• Atmosphere They have thick atmospheres made mostly of gases.
• Movement They travel around the sun in almost circular paths.
• Moons They have many moons.
• Size They are large compared to other planets—up to 88,900 miles in diameter.
• Rings Saturn’s rings are the easiest to see from Earth.
• Storms Jupiter and Saturn have more storms than Uranus and Neptune.
• Colors Jupiter has shades of white, orange, brown, and red while Neptune is blue in color.
• Temperatures In this group, Neptune is the coldest planet (average temperature: -328° F) while Jupiter is the warmest planet (average temperature: -166° F).
• Size Jupiter is so large that all of the other planets could fit inside of it.